Beginning
The Seven Lamps
8 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 Speak to Aaron and say to him: When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps will give light before the lampstand.
3 Aaron did so. He lit the lamps before the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses. 4 And this was the work of the lampstand: hammered gold, to its shaft, to its flowers was beaten work. According to the pattern which the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.
Consecrating the Levites
5 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 6 Take the Levites from among the children of Israel and cleanse them. 7 Thus you will do to them to cleanse them: Splash purifying water on them, and let them shave their whole body, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean. 8 Then let them take a young bull with its grain offering, also fine flour mixed with oil, and you will take another young bull as a sin offering. 9 You will bring the Levites before the tent of meeting. And you will gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together. 10 And you will bring the Levites before the Lord. And the children of Israel will put their hands on the Levites. 11 And Aaron will offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering of the children of Israel, that they may do the service of the Lord.
12 The Levites will lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you will offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to the Lord, to make an atonement for the Levites. 13 You will set the Levites before Aaron and before his sons, and offer them as a wave offering to the Lord. 14 Thus will you separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites will be Mine.
15 And afterwards the Levites will go in to do the service of the tent of meeting, and you will cleanse them and offer them as a wave offering. 16 For they are completely set aside for Me by the children of Israel. Instead of all who open the womb, instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, I have taken them for Myself. 17 For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are Mine, both man and animal. On the day that I struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for Myself. 18 I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the children of Israel. 19 I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to serve the service of the children of Israel in the tent of meeting and to make an atonement for the children of Israel, so there will be no plague among the children of Israel when the children of Israel approach the sanctuary.
20 Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel did to the Levites; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the children of Israel did to them. 21 The Levites cleansed themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes, and Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the Lord, and Aaron made an atonement for them to cleanse them. 22 And after that the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons. As the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.
23 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 24 This is what belongs to the Levites: From twenty-five years old and older they will go in to do their duty concerning the service of the tent of meeting. 25 And from the age of fifty years they will cease doing their duty concerning its service and will serve no more. 26 But they will minister with their brothers in the tent of meeting, to attend to their needs, but will not do the work. Thus you will do to the Levites concerning their duties.
The Passover at Sinai
9 And the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they came out of the land of Egypt, saying: 2 Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at its appointed time. 3 On the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you will keep it at its appointed time. According to all its rites and according to all its ceremonies, you will keep it.
4 Moses spoke to the children of Israel, that they should keep the Passover. 5 They kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at evening in the Wilderness of Sinai. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did.
6 There were men who were unclean by the dead body of a man, so they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day. 7 And those men said to him, “We are defiled by the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the children of Israel?”
8 And Moses said to them, “Stand still, and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you.”
9 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 10 Speak to the children of Israel, saying: If any man of you or of your posterity is unclean because of a dead body, or is far off on a journey, he will still keep the Passover to the Lord. 11 The fourteenth day of the second month at evening they will keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 12 They will leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they will keep it. 13 But the man who is ceremonially clean, and is not on a journey, and fails to keep the Passover, even the same person will be cut off from his people. Because he did not bring the offering of the Lord at its appointed time, that man will bear his sin.
14 If a stranger will sojourn among you and will keep the Passover to the Lord, according to the ordinance of the Passover, and according to the manner of it, so he will do. You will have one ordinance both for the resident alien and for the natural born citizen of the land.
The Cloud and the Fire
15 And on the day that the tabernacle was erected, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and at evening there was over the tabernacle the appearance of fire until the morning. 16 So it was always. The cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. 17 When the cloud was lifted up from over the tabernacle, then after it the children of Israel journeyed, and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel camped. 18 At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they camped. As long as the cloud dwelt over the tabernacle they camped. 19 When the cloud remained many days over the tabernacle, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not journey. 20 When the cloud remained a few days over the tabernacle, according to the commandment of the Lord they dwelt in their tents, and according to the commandment of the Lord they journeyed. 21 When the cloud dwelt from evening until morning and the cloud was lifted up in the morning, then they journeyed. Whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was lifted up, they journeyed. 22 Whether it was two days, or a month, or a long time that the cloud dwelt over the tabernacle, the children of Israel dwelt in their tents and did not journey. But when it was lifted up they journeyed. 23 At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they journeyed. They kept the charge of the Lord at the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
The Silver Trumpets
10 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 Make for yourself two silver trumpets. Of a hammered work you will make them, and you will use them for summoning of the assembly and directing the breaking up of the camps. 3 When they blow both of them, all the assembly will assemble themselves to you at the door of the tent of meeting. 4 If they blow only one, then the leaders, who are heads of the thousands of Israel, will gather themselves to you. 5 When you blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east will set out. 6 When you blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the south will set out. They will blow an alarm for their setting out. 7 But when the assembly is to be gathered together, you will blow, but you will not sound an alarm.
8 The sons of Aaron, the priests, will blow the trumpets, and they will be to you as an ordinance forever throughout your generations. 9 And if you go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresses you, then you will blow an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies. 10 Also in the day of your gladness, and at your appointed days, and in the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings that they may be a memorial for you before your God. I am the Lord your God.
The Departure From Sinai
11 And it was on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was lifted up from over the tabernacle of the testimony. 12 The children of Israel set out from the Wilderness of Sinai. And the cloud dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran. 13 And they set out for the first time at the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
14 And the standard of the camp of the sons of Judah set out first by their armies, and over his armies was Nahshon the son of Amminadab. 15 Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Issachar was Nethanel the son of Zuar. 16 Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Zebulun was Eliab the son of Helon. 17 The tabernacle was taken down, and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set out, carrying the tabernacle.
18 The standard of the camp of Reuben set out by their armies, and over his armies was Elizur the son of Shedeur. 19 Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Simeon was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. 20 Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Gad was Eliasaph the son of Deuel. 21 The Kohathites set out, carrying the sanctuary, and they set up the tabernacle before they came.
22 The standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set out by their armies, and over his armies was Elishama the son of Ammihud. 23 Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. 24 Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Benjamin was Abidan the son of Gideoni.
25 Then the standard of the camp of the children of Dan set out, which was the rear guard of all the camps by their armies, and over his armies was Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. 26 Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Asher was Pagiel the son of Okran. 27 Over the armies of the tribe of the children of Naphtali was Ahira the son of Enan. 28 This was the order of march of the children of Israel, company by company, when they set out.
29 Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out to the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do good to you because the Lord has spoken good concerning Israel.”
30 Hobab said to him, “I will not go. But I will depart to my own land, and to my kindred.”
31 So Moses said, “Please do not leave us, because you know where to camp in the wilderness, and you may be our eyes. 32 Moreover, if you go with us, then it will be that whatever good the Lord will do for us, we will likewise do for you.”
33 They set out three days from the mountain of the Lord, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them the three days’ journey, to find a resting place for them. 34 And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from of the camp.
35 And it was, when the ark set out, that Moses said,
“Rise up, O Lord,
and let Your enemies be scattered,
and let them that hate You flee before You.”
36 And when it rested, he said,
“Return, O Lord,
to the multitude of thousands of Israel.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.